Northern Rail under fire over delays

NORTHERN Rail has come under fire for its performance, as it is exposed to another disruption today with another RMT strike day.

Philip Davies, MP (Con, Shipley), labeled Northern Rail "incompetent" and accused her of "total disregard" for his clients, while Transport for the Norths board members said passengers must endure daily suffering on the Nordbahn.

Mr Davies brought an action in Parliament over the "terrible track record" of Northern Rail.

He said: "With my constituents, there are always trains that are frequently canceled at rush hour. This means they are late for work or have trains that are completely packed for work.

"They show a total disregard for their customers and the government really needs to do something to get the situation under control, so please have a debate because my constituents and I are very frustrated because they are not incompetent."

The transport to the north said, with a planned change to the schedule for Sunday, now it was the time it took Northern and TransPennine Express to get the performance change that had been promising since the summer.

The panel affirmed its position that a second person should be in the trains and that Northern and RMT should re-enter negotiations in the interests of the passengers.

They also welcomed the government's position that it would help identify the funding for this measure.

In his role as the new Minister of Railways Andrew Jones MP became a member. They also heard from Keith Williams – the independent chairman in charge of conducting the national review on the railways – on the day a call for evidence was launched. It was clear that lessons had to be learned from what was happening in the North, and that the experience of the passengers was of the utmost importance to the board members.

Transportation for North's Chief Executive, Barry White, said: "The feeling of what the passengers of the North are going through remains. The level of performance is still poor and the strength of feeling that something needs to change is undiluted.

"We act and give the North a solid voice. to ensure that the upcoming issues are of paramount importance in ongoing reviews of the industry; and securing compensation packages for those affected. The pace of change can not stop.

"Transportation to the north is doing its part to promote better infrastructure investment. But we also hold train operators accountable. The December schedule must now begin to meet the promises of operators to increase reliability. "

Members also learned that Network Rail issued a northward expansion package on Thursday for £ 15m. Transportation to the North will work with Network Rail and passenger groups to decide how best to spend the money to improve passenger travel.

Councilwoman Judith Blake, head of transportation for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and chairman of the City Council of Leeds, welcomed the second part of the Office of Rail and Road's investigation into May's schedule chaos, which focused on passengers' interests important decisions have been made for major railway projects and industrial cooperation to improve passenger information.

She said: "Passengers are still experiencing poor punctuality and reliability. Up to 200 per day have stayed on platforms in our region, and we are pushing the operators and Network Rail to take action to provide the service that the North of England deserves.

"We also need significant investment in infrastructure to sustain rail growth and help us achieve our growth goals."

Cllr Blake reviews the introduction of the May schedule with the Minister of Railways Andrew Jones, who will report in the New Year.

Due to RMT's recent strike action, trains will no longer run on Bradford Forster Square and other services have been reduced.